"What?!" Anna widened her eyes in shock because the illusion had begun to control Noel. She clicked her tongue and started parrying Noel's relentless attack.
The clicking sound produced by the two swords kept echoing inside the tunnel. Noel's eyes were bloodshot even though his focus wasn't there. She could feel the hatred in Noel's eyes.
To her surprise, the hatred was actually similar to what she felt during the first time they met when Noel attacked her without thinking.
She was shocked because she had done all the things she could to diminish the hatred in his heart. But when she realized everything she did actually had no impact to him, she wondered whether she could really do it.
'Is this the reality? His hatred is at the same level as back then… Did I not change anything within him? Are we fated to be fighting each other until only one side is standing?' Anna's mind started to fall into despair.
'Noel is supposed to be a great powerhouse that can elevate the kingdom to a great height as long as I can diminish his hatred. His talent can even keep up with me who has the knowledge of the previous life. So, it's clear that he's more talented than me.
'But if this is going on, I'm afraid I'm the one who have to die. Is there truly no other way to solve the hatred between us? No, wait… Has he been holding this kind of hatred this whole time?'
Anna couldn't help but recall the memory when Noel did something for her. It was unforgettable. But now, the truth was revealed.
'Is there truly no way?' Anna thought before he found Noel raising his hand, creating a snowflake and tossing it to her.
Anna hurriedly jumped back as the snowflake suddenly exploded, creating a massive ice crystal. At the same time, she managed to cover her sword with lightning and struck the crystal before it reached her, shattering the ice crystal at the last moment.
Seeing this situation, Noel was thoroughly angered as a black flame suddenly appeared on his left hand. The flame didn't let out an extraordinary heat, but Anna's sense was tingling.
'That's… the flame…' Anna obviously recognized the flame since she had seen it in their fight. This was Noel's flame that could be said to be the strongest flame people had seen.
However, when he was about to wave his hand, Noel suddenly stopped as if he was restrained by someone.
"Eh?" Anna widened her eyes in surprise. This was the same reaction as the Anna in the illusion had.
She was staring at Noel's black flame that wasn't launched at her because someone's hand grabbed his wrist, stopping him at the last second.
The one who stopped him was none other than his father, Count Ardagan.
"Dimitri… It's enough. I surrender." Count Ardagan stated with a sad expression.
"Father!" Noel looked at his father.
"Silly child. Your dream felt like you have gone through that kind of life for real… It makes me wonder whether it's true or not. I'm sure you have felt it too, right?" Luke smiled.
"!!!" Noel widened his eyes in shock. He never admitted it but he certainly felt it. No, he didn't want to admit it because that was exactly the purpose of this test.
If he admitted it, he would be losing them again. He had felt it during his stay here. Two months felt like it was a flash, making him realize that the time didn't flow like his dream. In other words, this was nothing but an illusion.
However, he could do many things with his father and mother, trying to make up his regret. That was why he never admitted this wasn't real. He just wanted to spend more time with them.
Luke looked at Helzen and said, "Give us a few minutes to talk and I'll surrender myself without a fight."
Helzen squinted his eyes, wondering why he had a change of heart. However, he also saw Noel's black flame earlier even though he had used ice not long ago.
"I understand. If you can surrender, then it's better for us." Helzen ultimately accepted it because his subordinates would also die in Leysha's hand.
Luke gently pulled Noel a bit to create a distance and said, "My child, listen to me. What you said in your dream might be correct, but that also means I orchestrated it. If that's the case, me and your mother should be alive somewhere, but we can't really meet you for a while.
"As for you, your father never truly abandoned you. I didn't throw you there without a single protection. I'm sure that Dimitri is with you, protecting you from death. Unless it's necessary, I don't think he will appear before you, but if you don't trust me, you can just go to a cliff and jump as if you want to kill yourself. That will be the trigger to make him act."
"!!!" Noel gasped because he had numerous situation where he almost died. However, there was one memory that flashed in his mind. It was when he met Rick and Rica. There was an assassin that killed the bandit leader, but that assassin never appeared again. If what his father said was true, the assassin might be trying to kill him and Dimitri judged it was too dangerous for him to be left alive. That might be the reason why he didn't meet another assassin.
"It seems that Dimitri has taken some action." Luke smiled and patted Noel's head. "But I'm glad that you're doing alright. Since I'm the mastermind, I'll most likely leave everything there. I don't know if we can meet again, but I wish we can. At that time, make sure that you do the same thing. It'll make us very happy."
Luke hugged Noel tightly and said, "Don't worry. Keep moving forward! No matter what you do in the future, you will always be the child we're proud of."
Tears started coming out of his eyes. The time they spent together was short, but it might be the best moment in his life.
However, he had to part with this happiness because his father made him admit that this wasn't real.
The house, the sky, and even the ground started to disappear. The father he hugged turned into particles as he dropped to the ground while desperately catching everything, not wanting to let him go.
It was futile. He could only let it go.
"Father… Mother… I miss you." Noel slammed the ground as his tears dropped to the ground. His scenery gradually changed back to the tunnel and his action was reflected in the real world.
Anna who saw everything had her heart thumped.
